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" The only black folks in town when I was growing up were me and my cousins and one other family. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Me
Family
Black
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" When you write a show, every character is you to some extent. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Write
Some
You
" I want to be a strong voice, period. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Strong
Voice
Want
" When I first arrived in Los Angeles from New York in 2004 to try to break into television, I couldn't believe how segregated it was - how many neighborhoods were nearly all-white or all-black or -Asian or -Latino. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Try
New York
New
" I don't write scenes where one person is right and one person is wrong. It's very much by design that everyone has a point of view that you as an audience member can understand. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Design
View
Point Of View
" If I weren't a showrunner, I'd be a much more accomplished mother; if I were not a mother, I would be a much more accomplished showrunner. I have to be okay with getting a B in both. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Accomplished
Okay
Mother
" I'm seeing more and more people of color do what I do as showrunners, and that's so great. I would love to get to the point where we don't have to talk about it anymore. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Love
Seeing
People
" When I'm at work, I want to be with my daughter, and when I'm with my daughter, I probably should be working, and it just is what it is. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Work
Want
Just
" Knowing what I don't know helps me every day. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Knowing
Know
Every Day
" Obviously I'm not from 50's background - I'm from Westport, Connecticut, which is as far away from his background as you can get, right? Growing up in Westport, for a long time I was the only black person living there for miles. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Time
Black
Growing Up
" There's always going to be a part of me that wants an Emmy. Truthfully, I'm probably more motivated by people being entertained. I'm more motivated by people being like, 'Oh snap! Did you see that?' "
Courtney A. Kemp
People
More
Me
" Not many people get to create a television show that actually makes it on the air. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Air
Television
Show
" I don't want to be seen in a way where all I can do is what people expect of me. "
Courtney A. Kemp
People
I Can
Want
" I really do love male characters, in some ways, for the fact that they get surprised when they're vulnerable. Women are more surprised by their strength. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Strength
Love
Some
" If you are other, you don't think twice about hiring people who are other. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Other
Hiring
You
" The baseline character in a lot of Western literature is a man. So we, as women, do a lot of suspending of our disbelief to experience a novel or a play or a movie through that male character. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Women
Character
Play
" When it comes to power as it functions between humans, it all comes down to desire. If you know what someone wants, you can control them. It is as simple as that. And the reverse is also true: If you have control over your own desires, no one will ever own you. As humans, we are plagued with desire - it consumes us, it fuels us, it destroys us. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Power
True
You
" There are so many different things that create an alchemy of success. Just like there are so many different things that create an alchemy of a failure. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Create
Success
Things
" I first became a showrunner at 36 years old. I had no experience doing this job, which is as complicated and multi-faceted as anything I'd ever tried. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Complicated
Experience
Job
" The impetus for 'Power' was me writing about my dad, who was an advertising executive and very interested in image. He thought that perception was reality and what people thought of you was what was real about you. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Reality
People
Writing
" The revolution is that we can be anything. We don't have to be one thing or the other. The idea that it is my responsibility to represent only good black people... I mean, what are you talking about? That's not a character - that's a polemic. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Responsibility
Character
Good
" I had very much wanted to be the very first black female editor-in-chief of 'Vogue.' Barring that, I wanted to work at 'Entertainment Weekly.' "
Courtney A. Kemp
Entertainment
Work
Black
" My dad was very, very invested in image. He felt that as a black person, the thing you could control was how did you look, how did you dress, how did you sound, how did you smell, how did you act. All of that stuff that you could control would absolutely have a strong impact on your access. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Impact
Black
Control
" My dad and his sister, who is no longer with us, used to dance on the streets for money. They had nothing. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Sister
Dance
Streets
" Being a writer is great because you get to come up with stuff. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Because
Great
Writer
" When people watch 'Power' and they find out the showrunner is black, it's not surprising. What is surprising is that I am a woman and my background is not particularly urban. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Woman
I Am
Power
" I think television is about the characters you want to see again, and so you want to invite these people into your home. And certainly, seeing them get into bad situations and then watching them have to get themselves out, that's always super satisfying. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Television
Home
You
" Being a showrunner is doing a bit of everything. It's not just writing. It's also management: managing actors, managing producers, managing a crew, being kind to people, being a good boss, observing deadlines. "
Courtney A. Kemp
People
Management
Good
" In college, I didn't know whether to hang out with the black kids or the white kids, and then I found the theatre kids, and I was like, 'Oh, it doesn't matter.' We were all weird and listening to Morrissey and wearing Doc Martens so that was my tribe. "
Courtney A. Kemp
College
Listening
Theatre
" I think women judge other women more harshly, always, which is a shame. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Judge
Shame
More
" Every writer should be able to write anything if you do the research and you're sensitive enough to ask the questions. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Write
Questions
Enough